Friend Speaks Out After ‘Devastating Accident’ Kills 31-Year-Old at Steel Plant He Shouldn’t Have Been In

A 31-year-old man from Birmingham, Alabama, died earlier this month after an incident at a local steel plant — a place authorities say he had no authorization to be.

The victim, identified as Robert Carson Chambliss, was remembered by a family friend as someone who was not “attempting to vandalize or steal any property,” describing the situation as a “devastating accident.”

Officials were called to CMC Steel in Birmingham on Nov. 7 when workers discovered someone had been injured, according to AL.com.

Chambliss was neither an employee nor a contractor at the facility, the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office confirmed. After entering the property without permission, he was killed during what authorities have classified as an industrial accident. He was pronounced dead at 10:49 p.m. local time.

Investigators later determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma. Additional details have not yet been released. The Birmingham Police Department, which responded to the scene, has not commented publicly on the incident.

CMC Steel stated that Chambliss had no affiliation with the company and had entered the site without authorization, adding that it is cooperating with authorities as the investigation continues.

A friend of Chambliss, who asked not to be named out of respect for his family, said he graduated from Auburn University in 2017 and had been a track athlete there. The friend added that he had “a large group of friends he loved that loved him in return.”

Workplace fatalities have declined nationally in recent years. There were 5,283 fatal work-related injuries in the United States in 2023, down 3.7% from 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The construction industry accounted for the highest number of fatalities that year — a trend consistent since 2011. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cites falls, being caught in or between hazards, being struck by objects, and electrocution as the primary dangers faced by workers in that field.

In 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 17% of all fatal workplace injuries were caused by “contact with objects and equipment.”